hackingbear writes: Cong Sun, Chief Architect of the new Chinese carrier-based J-15 fighter jet Cong, recently unveiled that 3D printing has been widely used in designing and producing of the jet which had its first successful test in October 2012. 3D printing has been used to manufacture critical titanium alloy load-bearing structure on the aircraft, including the entire nose landing gear. China aims to become a leader in commercializing 3D printing technology to manufacture titanium parts in aviation industry. The laser additive manufacturing technology could save 90% of raw material, and the cost is only 5% of the traditional method — for example, the cost of a part made with traditional technology is 25 million RMB (4 million USD), but using laser additive manufacturing technology the cost is only 1.3 million (210K USD). Because no tooling is required, the processing charge is also just 10% of the orginal. Chief Architect Cong Sun recently unveiled that 3D printing has been widely used in designing and producing of the newest J-15 prototype which had its first successful test in October 2012. 3D printing has been used to manufacture critical titanium alloy load-bearing structure on the aircraft, including the entire nose landing gear. If the forged titanium parts on an American F-22 were made in China, 40 percent of the weight can be reduced while same strength could be maintained. Chinese media report (in Chinese) also credited the use of 3-D printing in recent massive speeding up of new generation military jet development, including the J-31 stealth fighter jets. Looks like we can outsource F-22/F-35 production as well to save our budget.

Looks like we can outsource F-22/F-35 production as well to save our budget.

the biggest threat to america is terrorism, and you can't fight terrorists with fancy fighter jets. hell, the us military can't even fight terrorists very well with anything (including an all but limitless budget until recently). you could probably start reducing the threat of terrorism by wising up and not trying to be a bully to the rest of the world, but i don't think that's gunna happen.

I agree with your assessment of methods to combat terrorism, but I really don't thing terrorism is a significant threat to America. Things like diabetes and car accidents pose larger threats by orders of magnitude. Still, if the military could have the trump card in air superiority for a lower cost I think it's a win for everyone. The military can have more top caliber planes, and the public can pay less for them.